Czech President Milos Zeman drew fire on Tuesday, after joking that the only way to get rid of Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka before elections was through murder or execution.
Zeman's popularity has shot upwards in recent months, thanks to his comments against accepting Muslim immigrants from the Middle East. Zeman's statement was made at a debate, when he answered a question about what could be done regarding Sobotka, who has a considerably more moderate stance regarding migrants.
"If you want to get rid of any politician, including the president, there is only one democratic way and that is a free election, which will take place in a year. And then there is an undemocratic path that is called Kalashnikov," Zeman said, smiling. The audience then laughed and applauded, according to Reuters.
The Czech Prime Minister who Zeman joked about assassinating, Bohuslav Sobotka, apparently did not find the idea very funny, saying that such remarks were unacceptable.
"We are with the highest probability the only country in a civilized world where the president publicly calls for killing the prime minister," Sobotka said, according to CTK news agency.
The interior minister called the statement a "tasteless joke" which "adds oil to the fire. The head of the opposition TOP 09 party, Miroslav Kalousek responded without irony, writing on his Facebook page that such statements are unacceptable when right-wing militias are on the rise in the country.
"Truly statesmanlike advice. Especially now, at the time of hysterical fighters that play 'patriotic militias', priceless," Kalousek wrote.
"If any other politician mentioned the Kalashnikov rifle in such a context, the audience would not laugh in return. But Czech voters have long gotten used to the oratory and polemical manners of their president, his unorthodox sense of humor, salty jokes and even insulting remarks which he allows himself at times," told Sputnik.
